Sunday, December 27, 2015

The people of tiny equatorial island Singapore's greatest enemy is not their totalitarian rulers, their lives as slaves, but the rising sea. Today the tiny island with their tiny population which claims all sorts of firsts, real or imaginary, just as North Korea does in their propaganda sheets, lives every day not knowing whether the flood waters tomorrow are going to be at their knees or their waists. And what is worse, it is a problem that will only get bigger and for which the dictatorial rulers have no clue what whatsoever.

Let me repeat what I said. The rising sea flooding the entire island is a problem that will get worse daily and for which there is no answer. To put it another way, Singaporeans are damned by the sea.

And here comes a lesson in geography, climatology and astronomy.

Singapore sits almost squarely on the Equator. This means of course very high temperatures, very high humidity and very heavy rain or to put it in another way torrential rain.

Rain is caused by the condensation of water vapor in the atmosphere. The hotter it is, the more water vapor it can carry and when it rises and condenses, heavier rain. Generally speaking, at night the island cools down, from sunrise the island gets heated up, up goes the water vapor and down comes the torrential rain in the afternoon.

The tiny island is surrounded by the sea. Because the water is warm, the water expands in volume and the tides get higher and higher as the water continues to get warmer and warmer due to global warming.

Tides are principally cased by the gravitational pull of the Moon and also by the Sun if it happens to be in the vicinity of the Moon. Generally in Singapore island, the Moon goes round the Earth twice a day. That is why you have 2 high tides and 2 low tides daily. When the Moon is above you, the gravitational pull of the Moon cases the waters to rise. On occasion when the orbit of the Earth takes the Moon and Sun to be aligned above you, their combined gravitational pull causes exceptionally high tides known as "King Tides".

So twice a day, at high tide, the water from the sea encroaches into the island and the encroachments get further and further inland as the climate change continues to intensify. Of course one does not know when it will rain but if the rain happens to be at the same time as high tide, the torrential rain water which falls on the island cannot flow to sea because the sea water is trying to come in. And that is when you have the flash floods. It is almost like Russian roulette. You never know when it will flood because the Moon is above and close to you when it is high tide.

There is no uncertainty over high tides, because they happen twice a day. The only uncertainly is when it will rain. If your luck is bad and it rains at high tide, you are guaranteed of a flood. Which means you can even have floods twice a day daily if it rains at those times. And another fact which is certain is that the height of floods will continue to increase, never decrease because global warming is an established fact which cannot be stopped at any time soon. This means more and more floods, higher and higher floods and greater and greater rainfall with no remedy whatsoever.

Such a life in total fear of ever increasing floods and ever increasing frequency is understandably intolerable and unbearable. Businesses whose stocks are constantly damaged by rain water would decide not to do business in the island anymore. Hundreds of cars which are completely damaged and unrepairable causes extreme loss to their owners in an island where your car can be more expensive than your house. Roofs collapse and people are injured due to water logged buildings, elevators and escalators malfunction due to wires tripping and people may even die in the thousands if water seeps into the underground train system.

Jets on final approach can crash if their engines flame out as a result of being water logged.

Singapore island is in fact facing its most existential threat ever, but the totalitarian rulers understandably like ostriches have their heads in the sand. Nothing is being said to address this issue which will literally destroy them. In the past when the issue was at least discussed, it was the consensus opinion of most experts that no amount of engineering can solve this problem. The island is at most places only a few inches above sea level and it so jam packed with people and so built up that you can do nothing to heighten its elevation.

You cannot simply move everyone to the small knoll of Bukit Timah Hill which is only 500 feet high while bulldozers raise the entire city down, fill it up with earth another 5 feet high and rebuild once again all the skyscrapers and all! Simply not possible.

You cannot solve the problem with building deeper canals because this would only mean more sea water would occupy them; therefore not solving the problem. You cannot pump the water back into the sea because it will only come in again. You cannot dump it in Malaysia because they don't want it. You cannot export it to China because they don't want it either. You cannot send it to Mars either. Neither can you make Lee Kuan Yew's son drink all of it either.

If you look at the days it has flooded recently, it happened on Dec 5, Dec 10 and Dec 11. It is happening more and more and with more and more intensity. If this problem is going to get worse, businesses would leave to cut losses. Our little dictators are looking completely helpless while their island sinks underground.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

The recent 2015 national elections has had the effect of effectively stubbing out any hope of democracy in the small island of Singapore with its equally tiny population. Before the elections, there were many who hoped that things might change and democracy may have a chance. A great deal of fervor and hope was seen for democracy. On election day, Sept 11, 2015 all that hope was destroyed at a stroke when 70% of Singaporeans, a far greater number than even before had chosen Lee Kuan Yew's son's Fascism instead of democracy. And suddenly like the drop of a hat all dissent in the Internet came to a stop. The few remaining minority of Singaporeans, the educated and thinking people realized sadly that there is no more hope anymore.

And the tiny island today is indeed a classic Fascist state with the ruler, Lee Kuan Yew's son the Prime Minister and his selected colleagues, who pay themselves millions are above the law and free to do whatever they want. And what they want and have is an official salary of $2.5 million and an equal number of undeclared millions which they pay themselves. This is corruption on a grand scale but no one can question them because if you do, their Kangaroo judges would have you imprisoned or bankrupted or both. As a result naturally no one has any courage to question them.

They have abrogated the Constitution and all citizen's rights such as free speech expression or assembly have all been denied. Today it is a criminal offense in the island to speak publicly without a permit, to assemble publicly without a permit or to protest publicly without a permit, all of which carries prison sentences. As a result out of fear, none speaks publicly, protests publicly or demonstrates publicly. Fear has silenced the entire island.

The newspapers are all state controlled and it is a criminal offense to disseminate any news material without a license, an offense which carries a prison sentence. So is the TV radio and the entire media just as it is in North Korea.

All judges are carefully selected to dish out government approved verdicts and a handful of judges who had dared exercise any independence, a suicidal act in the Singapore context were all removed and fired from their jobs.

So who are these 70% who voted for the Fascist government? They are by and large men an women with minimal education who are not aware that as humans they have any rights. They are quite happy to be told what to do by any dictator as long as they have 3 meals a day and can watch Television when they go home to their state owned tiny multi storey apartments. The rest are opportunists who although educated and aware that they live no better than slaves, are quite happy nevertheless. People who lack courage and self respect on the whole.

And what about the others who have some education as well as some pride? They have all left the island for settlement in Western European and North American countries. Naturally they are not prepared to live in a country where they have no rights, like North Korea and don't want their children to be subjected to this, destroying their minds and turning them literally into zombies. These people who are the best and brightest, the very cream of society, the very ones that the island needs the most are simply being lost to Singapore.

And there are a few highly educated capable individuals who for some reason, perhaps loyalty to Singapore decide to stay. But because they have independent minds and are not prepared to go along playing the fiddle to Lee Kuan Yew's son, they are effectively shunned and shut out of any participation in the government, thereby their abilities being lost to Singapore.

Take for instance Chee Soon Juan. He is a highly educated individual and there is no doubt his abilities would contribute greatly for the betterment of the island. But because he is an open critic of this Fascist regime, he is totally neglected and sidelined, not allowed to participate in government and his views are blacked out from all media in the island.

Another such man is Kenneth Jeyarentam, an English educated economist. If you read his blog The Ricebowl Singapore TRS, he has some very interesting articles on the governance of the island which the rulers could put to good use. But the problem is that he too is an open critic of this totalitarian regime and therefor he cannot be allowed any participation or any publicity in their state owned media. His valuable talents too are lost to Singapore entirely because the rulers are so insecure that they fear any publicity or help received from him would be the end of their fascist government.

If Chee Soon Juan or Jeyaretnam were tomorrow to announce their unconditional loyalty to the Fascist regime and prostrate at their feet, I am sure they would both be made Ministers instantly, but this is obviously not possible since they refuse to collaborate.

Just like Chee and Jeyaretnam, I am sure there are many others who simply are unknown and their talents wasted to the island because of their refusal to play second fiddle.

Ultimately no honest human being true to himself and his conscience could with a straight face say that they support this regime. How could they when the rulers are millionaires and corrupt and there is no modicum of freedom whatsoever, an island with a state controlled press like in Notrth Korea and Kangaroo judges running around dishing Lee's son's justice.

As you can see the country is principally peopled by a second rate population, either uneducated workers or unconscionable hypocrites and opportunists prepared to live under Fascism. The best have either left or have been sidelined and ignored. Therefore the island has a very poor quality population, inferior stock both educationally and in character, which simply cannot expect to excel without the cream of society; because they have all left or have been silenced like Chee Soon Juan and Kenneth Jeyaretnam.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Lee Kuan Yew's son who has inherited Singapore island from his father, the former dictator, is once again going after 16 year old outspoken Singaporean boy Amos Yee. Readers would remember the last time some months ago, he was convicted and imprisoned for making a video accusing the late Lee Kuan Yew of being a dictator and comparing him with another dictator of sorts in England, Margaret Thatcher with a cartoon of him having sex with her.

None of this was false as anyone who understands Singapore knows what Lee Kuan Yew was. And drawing such a cartoon is totally innocuous, a normal occurrence today all over the world. But of course Lee Kuan Yew like his son now are so insecure that even the slightest criticism has to be silenced just as Kim Jong Un of North Korea does.

Now he is being investigated again and very probably will be charged and imprisoned again, accused of posting religious hate speech. We don't know if any of this is true, as Singapore is a place where they can tailor any evidence to suit the occasion when it comes to political dissent.

In my case, having identified me as a critic, while in Singapore on July 4, 2008, American Independence Day, they accused me of "knocking on a police car". When they found that they couldn't pin me down on that several policemen in unison testified identically that for some reason I behaved "disorderly" which they explained as "waving my hands in the air" and "shouting". As to why I should do that was never explained, and promptly convicted. You can read about my escapades with this very interesting regime here in my 2008 blogs.

I think we should all be grateful to Amos Yee. In an island where no one has any courage to call a rat when needed, all we have is this boy who stands up as David against a Goliath and who puts all Singaporeans to shame. The courage that he has is equivalent to that of the entire island put together, an island of sheep.

Singapore is place where Lee Kuan Yew's son who was literally given the island by his father is the most corrupt politician in all Asia if not the world. He pays himself no less than $3 million in salaries and an equally large amount in hidden perks and kickbacks. Yet no one has the courage to call him that except this 16 year old boy.

It is an island where there is no freedom of speech, expression or assembly and the entire press and media are state controlled. Yet no one dares to challenge them except this boy.

Tiny Singapore island, a classic fascist state, is paying a far greater price for this authoritarianism than you may think. The best and brightest are leaving the island not wanting to live under a dictatorship. the quality of its citizens is being diluted daily since the only ones who are prepared to come are the second rate Communist Chinese and unemployed Indians in India, people who cannot really improve the quality of manpower.

This dilution in the quality of its citizens has been going on for some time and progressively the island is going backwards, not forwards. It seems Lee Kuan Yew's son either doesn't know or he doesn't care.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

For Lee Kuan Yew's son who has inherited Singapore island from his father deceased, he has one more problem, like all the others, for which there is no answer. It is flooding.

As it is, it is already bad enough for him. Thanks to his father who thought turning the island into a Fascist state is the best way to stay in power, he is slowly realizing that repression does not always guarantee his security. The island today is one classic repressive Fascist state with no human rights whatsoever. No freedom of speech, expression, assembly, a free press or rule of law. The Constitution has been de facto abrogated. If fear can silence and subjugate the entire island population, it also results in huge disastrous consequences.

Not wanting to live under Fascism, the cream of the tiny island population are emigrating in droves for settlement in the West. They don't want their children to be brainwashed and subjugated by the all powerful government. They don't want their minds to be destroyed. They don't want success on condition of being a PAP ruling party card carrying sycophant.

They are refusing to have any children or even get married. The island has the lowest birth rate in the world and a fast aging society where in 20 years half the population would be over 50. Desperate to stop the total extinction of the local population, they are bringing in planeloads of Communist Chinese and Indians to replenish the population, except that all these immigrants are poor quality, lacking education, proficiency in English or skilled. You don't see Europeans Australians or Americans wanting to live in Singapore. No surprise at all, since who in his right mind would want to live in a society such as this.

To add to the problems of Lee Kuan Yew's son, here comes Mother Nature with a new impossible problem, daily flooding. The island is only a few inches or a few feet above sea level. It is tiny, no more than 277 square miles, and just a flat piece of land sitting right at the Equator. As a result you have torrential rains almost on a daily basis. As the Moon goes round the Earth twice a day, there are 2 high tides daily. When the Sun is lined up with the Moon, you have king tides, tides rising several feet above normal.

At high tide, sea water level rises and encroaches into land. If there is rain coinciding, which is torrential like a flood dropping from the sky, the water cannot escape into the sea. And Lee Kuan Yew's son's island is submerged under water. And this is happening almost daily. And it is a daily gamble trying to guess whether it will flood today, since it all depends if it will rain at today's tide.

Severe flooding is now happening almost every day causing a heavy daily toll in damage and loss not to mention catastrophic danger to the entire island. The daily flood casualties are the motor vehicles. Severe damage is caused to thousands of cars each time there is a flood resulting in many being totaled and scrapped. The government provides no compensation and insurance does not cover the loss. Not only cars suffer damage, hundreds of businesses, shops and houses are damaged by flood water with no compensation from anyone.

What is more serious is the possibility of massive loss of life by drowning. You have Underground subways where the ground level entrance is only a few inches above sea level. In the event of a severe flood, which is going to happen more and more frequently, the underground train system will be flooded with trains full of people trapped underwater.

Flooding is a danger that is with us now with growing sea level rise. Year after year, day after day, the sea rises and Singapore floods get worse and worse. And the frequency of flooding is especially bad for Singapore sitting squarely at the Equator where torrential rain and thunderstorms are a daily occurrence.

And the sad fact is that no amount of engineering can solve Lee Kuan Yew's son's flooding problem. The simple fact of the nature of Singapore island's geography, the terrain and its location is its doom. As if Lee Kuan Yew's son did not have enough problems already. As for me sitting in California, I am watching the fun.

Lee Kuan Yew's son's Singapore is turning into the Underwater Lost City of Atlantis.

And if one lesson has to be learnt from all this, it is this. Fascism in 2015 does not work.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

In the recent Singapore elections, Lee Kuan Yew's son's government once again rode into power, this time with an even greater majority. 70% of the electorate chose to continue living under a one party dictatorship, where there is no freedom of speech, expression or assembly; no rule of law or no free press.

Ordinarily any government should be swooning over backwards with joy with this success. But I am not so sure if this is indeed something to be joyous about or is not something more sinister leading them to their eventual downfall.

Let me go back a little in history. Adolf Hitler, another dictator in a Fascist regime like that in Singapore managed overwhelming economic progress. In fact in 1938, Nazi Germany was the most successful European country, far more successful than even England. Even Fascist Italy under Mussolini achieved tremendous success. But that was in a time when there was no Internet, and where a government with a state controlled media could make their citizens believe anything they want.

Singapore today like Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy is also an authoritarian one party state. However today one thing is different. We have the Internet. And the state controlled media is not in a position to make us believe anything they want.

And if you believe that an island such as Singapore needs most their highly skilled and educated population, for them Singapore is indeed a very distasteful place to live. Given a choice why would anyone with skills who is able to work anywhere in the world want to live under a dictatorship where he has no individual rights whatsoever, where he cannot obtain any independent news and where at the slightest expression of free speech, he can be sued for defamation and bankrupted by Lee Kuan Yew's son.

I left Singapore and took my family with me. I did not want to live in a society that denies me the right to free speech expression and assembly and I did not want my children to be subjected to such a life. And just like me, thousands and even hundreds of thousands of highly educated Singaporeans are leaving daily for settlement abroad, leaving behind the less skilled citizens who either are unable to leave or do not mind not having any freedom.

Some brain drain can be tolerated by large countries, but for a small island with a small population like Singapore, this a total catastrophe. They simply cannot withstand brain drain at this level.

Can you imagine what happens when this brain drain of best and brightest continue to leave at this alarming rate, leaving behind the unskilled and uneducated; more and more poorly skilled and educated and less and less educated citizens. The result a progressively less skilled and mediocre society.

As time progresses and more an more educated leave the island, you get a less innovative, less imaginative, less sophisticated and less competitive society. You end up a society of peasants.

In this way the overwhelming success for the dictatorship will likely to be the Achilles heel, the sword of Damocles that will eventually destroy this dictatorship.

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About Me

Determined to find the Truth.
Born Singapore, educated Winstedt School 2 (next to Monks Hill in Newton, Singapore) Raffles Institution, National Service, some travel in Europe, then law studies England, return to Singapore, practiced for 10 years, active Workers Party member, stood elections 1988 and 1991 in Singapore, was harassed and persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew for my political beliefs, left for USA, obtained asylum and admitted California State Bar, practice law ever since in Fremont California near San Francisco. Relinquished Singapore citizenship 2005 because I was not prepared to permit Lee Kuan Yew to unjustly retain my CPF funds if I remained Singapore Citizen. On principle, the only correct thing for me to do was to give it up, for my CPF funds. I am an American Citizen as of 2004.